March16, 2016

Mr. Speaker, in a secret court, the FBI quietly revised its privacy policy for searching through data that is collected on Americans by the NSA. The NSA, which I call the National Surveillance Agency, gives the FBI access to not only the data it collects but to the content of personal communications, like emails, texts, and phone calls.

What the intelligence agencies have been doing is lawfully collecting information on foreign terrorists but, at the same time, creating large databases of information that also contains information on American citizens.

This identifying information is then used for what the FBI calls routine searches that are unrelated to national security. Mr. Speaker, the FBI does not obtain a court-approved Fourth Amendment warrant for these searches.

This leeway by the NSA and the FBI allows for a backdoor to spy on Americans. Thus, the FBI is ignoring the U.S. Constitution.

The NSA and the FBI will continue to violate the constitutional protections that are guaranteed to all Americans unless Congress intervenes and protects and upholds the right of privacy of all Americans.